One of the biggest worries for parents bringing up children in expat destinations such as the UAE is that their children will become expat brats. And it’s fair to say that those parents who worry about that sort of thing have their work cut out: the comfortable status quo of private schools, live-in helpers, nannies, swimming pools, beach clubs and frequent five-star travel doesn’t lead naturally to balanced children who are well-equipped to deal with the “real world”.

We’ve all heard, for example, the classic expat-brat story about the Dubai-born child who, when told to “turn right” for the first time when getting on a flight home, hadn’t even been aware there was another cabin behind First and Business Class. Or about the child who thought his cousins in England were poor because they didn’t have a swimming pool. A couple of years ago I even remember reading about a UAE-based student who, on arriving at university in the UK, expected the college to have a bellboy who’d bring up his luggage.

Hats off, then, to The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC, which, this week invited a group of expat children to take part in a programme that taught them basic skills such as how to make their beds, do laundry, conserve electricity and cook healthy food – things that, presumably, many children here have done for them by hired help.

It was a great initiative that shone a spotlight on a topical issue and, by all accounts, it was a success from both sides. There are definitely children here who aren’t exposed to those things at home; children who propagate the stereotype of the overindulged, privileged expat brat – just as there are parents who hand over childcare to servants.

But let’s not tar all expat children with the same brush. Stories about well-balanced expat children don’t grab the headlines in quite the same way, but most expat parents I come across are fully engaged; they work hard to make sure their children don’t grow into over-privileged brats; they make sure that their children are grounded with core values and know how to clear up after themselves; they make a deliberate effort to show their children that the rest of the world is not like Dubai.

In actual fact, the majority of the expat children I meet here are a joy to speak to. They’re polite, well-educated, well-mannered and well-travelled. Because they have friends from all over the world, many of whom might have fled from troubled countries, children in the UAE often grow up not only speaking several languages, but understanding and being able to talk about complex world issues, too.

Perhaps because parents here are so conscious of the slippery slope of their privileged lives, they make a bigger deal of these things than they would at home. Yes, the expat brat may be dying out – in Dubai at least – and I hope it’s a trend that continues.

Annabel Kantaria is a journalist who’s lived in the UAE long enough to call it home. She’d quite like to ride a camel to work, is totally over gold-plated supercars and hasn’t met an expat brat for months. Follow her on Twitter: @BellaKay; and on Instagram: dubaipix